Dragon's Blood
by HavenKane
Summary: Harry's summer was interesting to say the least, but at the beginning of his sixth year things get even stranger. The appearance of time traveling Gryffindor's from the 1970's only adds to Harry's already hectic life.
1. Prologue

Hey, folks. It's me again. I can't seem to stop writing the beginning of these stories. I know that at least some of you aren't happy with me about that, but I'll try to write when I get the time and inspiration. That's about the best I can offer.

I also know that this is not a very original story line, and that the chapter is very short. I'll stop pointing out all of my flaws and get on with it now.

Dragon's Blood Prologue

"Dragon's blood is used in..." Harry's eyes fell closed. His head drooped, and his chin fell to his chest. The movement woke him, and he focused his eyes again to the page. "Dragon's blood is..." Harry's eyes fell closed again. He awoke not seconds later but not for the same reason. Some one was laughing. He was alone in the common room. He knew that he was. Everyone else had gone to bed hours ago. So then who was giggling?

Twenty years and ten minutes ago.

"Did you get it?" Sirius asked from his reclining position across the majority of the couch in the common room. A rumpled looking James Potter pulled a fine silver chain from his pocket. Sirius grinned like mad and nudged the boy on the floor. "Wakey, Wakey, Remmy. James has got the goods." Remus swatted him away and attempted to continue sleeping, but Sirius remained persistent. "Come on!" he shouted in the sleeping werewolf's ear. Remus pulled himself up into a sitting position with his knees to his chest, and held out his hand to inspect James' find.

"Why exactly did we want Lily's time turner again?" Remus asked through a yawn. Looking up and smirking at the standing boys disheveled state ha added, "And what did you have to do to get it?"

"An honorable Gryffindor such as myself would never kiss and tell," he said with a giant grin. "Where is Peter? We need to get going if we don't want to get caught."

"Morring gave him that detention for what we did to the new first years last week. He won't make it back for another hour at least," Sirius supplied.

"Good of him to take the blame for that, wasn't it?" James asked.

"I don't think that was his intent, Prongs," Remus offered, but James had moved on.

"Let's get on with it then."

"James Potter! Are you out of your mind?" came a scream from the stairs to the girl's dorms.

"Uh-oh," James said conversationally, taking the chain from Remus as Lily burst into the common room in her dressing gown. "Ah, Lily, how good of you too join us!"

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in. No one is even supposed to know that I have that. There are laws, James. Not just school rules, laws!"

"So do you want to come with us? We were thinking of going about 20 years. See how many of Sirius' illegitimate children are running around the school," James pleaded as Sirius gave an indignant, "Hey!"

She gave him a look that could only be interpreted as "What do you think?"

"Come on Lily... You said earlier that you were feeling adventurous," James offered with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, as Remus gave an "ew" and buried his head in his knees.

"James!" Lily cried as she blushed furiously. She tried to think about this logically. "You guys are going to do this whether or not I go with you, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically. She sighed heavily, "I'll go to keep you guys out of trouble, but we have to be back before class in the morning."

Sirius gave her a brotherly kiss on the head and said, "Not a problem, Lil. It's a time turner. For all we know we are back now and just waiting for us to leave."

Remus pulled his head up and looked at Sirius. "That hurt my head," he confessed and then stood so that they could leave.

James put the chain around the tight huddle of people and set the timer. One long and nauseatingly colorful ride through time later they all fell to the ground exactly where they had been in the first place.

And now back to Harry.

Harry stood and looked around. Was he dreaming? This was not his normal dream. It wasn't as unpleasant as usual. Harry walked behind the couch that he had been sitting on moments before and found a pile of Gryffindor students. Figuring that some of the younger students must have been sneaking out he put on his best strict older student face and tried not to laugh as they attempted to untangle themselves.

The out of breath and still slightly giggling students finally got to their feet and looked up at the boy in front of them. They were not met with his strict look however, as his jaw had dropped open upon recognizing the four in front of him.

Thanks for reading. Now review.

Haven


	2. Reenactment

Is it bad that I do this instead of my homework? Thanks for all of the great reviews and for the one mean one. ;) I really appreciate them, and look! You all get a reward. Chapter two!

James froze. It was as though he were looking in a mirror. This kid didn't just resemble him. He was him, from head to toe. Same hair, same nose. He just couldn't believe it. He had a kid in the future.

James was in shock. Remus was notoriously shy on occasion, and Lily was staring at her boyfriend's son as though he had four heads. Sirius took it upon himself to speak up.

"Well," he cleared his throat and let out a slight laugh. "You must be James Jr. Pleased to meet you. I'd better be your dogfather, or I'm going to have to kill my friend over there." At which point Sirius had to stop talking and instead moved toward the back of the group to laugh in private.

Remus moved forward to speak, but Harry was only half listening. They shouldn't have been there. None of them should have been there. This was wrong. How did they get there, anyway? The chain and hourglass still in plain sight around James' neck caught Harry's attention.

"Hello?" Remus said almost annoyed at Harry's inattention.

"Sorry, Remus," Harry said, still staring intently at the chain around his father's neck. "What did you just say?"

"Well, I asked if you knew who were are, but I guess you answered that." Harry drew his gaze toward the werewolf. He looked so young. Older than the others, Harry thought, but so much younger than he did now. Then again, he hadn't been through everything that the Remus Harry knew had.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I know who you are, and that you are a couple of decades away from where you are supposed to be right now."

"Come on," James scoffed. "Like you aren't curious about you future."

"No, I'm not," Harry said guardedly. "And you shouldn't be either. Now stay here. I'll be back in two minutes. Don't even think about sneaking off. I'll find you in a matter of seconds."

With that he hurried up the stairs to his dorm room. "Prongs," Sirius started, "your kid has got a major stick up his butt. Who is up for sneaking out?" Sirius rubbed his hands together in an anticipatory way, looking around for takers.

"He said he could find us, and I don't doubt it. I'm staying here. No offense, but he is so intense it's a little scary," Remus replied with an apologetic look at James.

"I'm up for it, Padfoot. Let's go," James said as he headed for the door.

Meanwhile, a little ways up the staircase.

"Ron!" Harry said as he shook his sleeping friend. "Come on, Ron, wake up! I need your help. Come on!"

Ron opened one eye. "I was having a really good dream. This better be good."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Hermione would be happy to reenact it later," Ron and Hermione had been officially together since the middle of summer, and Harry couldn't seem to stop teasing either of them about it. "Right now I need you to go get Professor Dumbledore."

Ron forgot to be embarrassed as he hurriedly got up and grabbed his robe. "Is it You-Know-Who?" he asked quietly, his eyes wide in terror.

"No, not this time," Harry replied as the made there way out of the dorm. "My parents, Sirius, and Remus decided about twenty years ago to time travel forward to see what their lives are like."

"Wow," Ron whispered. His look of concern focused hard on his friend. "Do you want me to stay? You can go get Dumbledore."

"You are the prefect. I'm not allowed out. Besides, having to keep an eye on them will be better for me than walking the quiet halls with nothing but my frantic thoughts to keep me company." He stopped abruptly at the bottom of the stairs, causing Ron who was behind him to do the same. "Where are they?" Harry seethed as he took in the two nervous Gryffindors in front of him.

"They left," Remus said with a resigned sigh.

Harry turned around with a growl and looked at Ron. "Watch them for a sec. I'll go get the map."

Ron, Remus, and Lily all stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as they waited. "You're a Weasley, right?" Remus asked, trying to fill the time until Harry got back. "Do you know Billius? He's a year ahead of us."

"My uncle," was all that Ron could get out as he nodded. It was amazing to him just how many people from their generation weren't around anymore because of the war.

"Let's go," Harry snapped out as he barreled through the common room to the portrait whole. The others followed after him trying to keep up with his grueling pace.

"Um... Harry, mate, where's the fire?" Ron asked as even his long legs were having some trouble in keeping up with Harry. Harry handed Ron the map, and Ron let out a world that would have been completely inappropriate were it not for the fact that the dots marked Sirius Black and James Potter were far too close to the dot marked Severus Snape.

"What?" Lily asked as she hurried up next to them. "What is that?"

"It's our map," Remus said with a slight tone of astonishment. "It shows where everyone in the castle is. Filch took it from James at the beginning of the year."

"Is something wrong? Where are they?" Lily asked. She was really starting to get worried.

"They don't know this castle," Harry said. "They don't know what has changed, and they don't know who is in it. Sorry, but your boyfriend is an idiot."

The four of them charged down the staircase to the dungeon and heard voices. "I am truly going to enjoy this," a slow and creepy voice sounded from down the hall. Harry charged down the hall and stood in front of Snape's raised wand. He glared hard at the older man, who only squared his shoulders and smirked as he began to cast his spell.

"Thank you so much professor," Ron interrupted, bumping into the potions master as he moved to help James and Sirius to there feet. "I was trying to get them to Professor Dumbledore, and they ran off. I appreciate you finding them for me."

Snape snarled, returning his hard glare to Harry. "They deserve everything that they get," he growled

"They're sixteen years old, Professor. You're a grown man. Why can't you act like it?" Harry said softly. Snape stared a moment longer.

"You will serve a week's detention with me for your cheek, Potter. Be in my office immediately after dinner or you will regret it. Get them to the office now, Weasley, or I'll have your badge," he growled. He swooped off in the opposite direction of the stairs, leaving the students to themselves.

Harry stalked to the stairs in an angry way that forcefully resembled Snape's. "Come on!" he shouted at those behind him who had yet to move. Ron shoved them along with a dark look of concern for his friend.

The walk to the headmaster's office took place in silence. Harry stopped in front of the gargoyle and Ron supplied. "Moon pie." The stairway opened and Harry impatiently began climbing.

Reaching for the knocker, Harry made his presence known. "Come in," the headmaster's ancient voice sounded from beyond the door. "What can I do for you at such an hour, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked as Harry moved to stand in front of him. He was sitting at his desk, still dressed in the clothes that he'd had on at dinner, surrounded by paper work.

Harry looked at the door way in response as Ron filed into the room behind the others. "Ah," was Dumbledore's only reply. He stood and walked around his desk to stand in front of the young time travelers. "Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore said in a calm voice, "would you care to explain to me what happened?"

"Not really?" Remus said, quietly reciting the line he had been giving since his first year. Dumbledore gave him a small smile, but he too followed tradition and remained silent until Remus had reluctantly finished his tale. "James, Sirius, and I were curious. We stole Lily's time turner. She caught us as we were leaving, so she came to keep us out of trouble." Remus stopped as though he were going to leave it there.

"Was that all?" the headmaster prompted Remus, even though his eyes never left Harry.

"We ended up in the common room here. Harry is it? He found us. Then Sirius and James ran into some trouble, sir," Remus replied. Harry rolled his eyes and Ron moved to stand next to him. Everyone else just stood stoically awaiting their punishment.

"They ran into Professor Snape, sir," Ron offered.

"May I see that time turner, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked as he stretched his wrinkled hand out toward James.

"You're going to send us back? Just like that?" James asked indignantly. "We came to see what the world is like twenty years in the future. All we have gotten to see that Snape just as big a pain in my butt as he was when we were in school, and that my kid is in serious need of a sense of humor." James pulled the time turner from around his neck. "I don't think we're ready to leave yet." A loud shout issued from his friends as James threw the delicate device to the floor and stepped on it. Harry shook his head and looked away. Ron stared in shock. Lily and Remus cried out at James, as Sirius slapped him in the back of the head.

Dumbledore raised his hand to silence them. He spoke calmly, but all present could tell that he was angry. "Time is precious, Mr. Potter. The sands of time are quite difficult to reign in, and a single time turner can take years to make. To get a replacement to take you back to your rightful place in time could take a while." Remus looked worried and Lily was biting her lip. James looked smug, and Sirius was shifting his wait from one foot to the other, looking torn. "In the mean time, you will stay here. There are two options as to how this will work. You will either stay locked in a set of rooms where you will continue your studies independently without the majority of the school knowing of your existence until you can be returned to your year, or you will be allow out in the school. Your memories will simply be erased before you are returned." Indignant cries came from James and Sirius. "I am leaving the choice up to Harry." He turned to Harry again at this point to wait for an answer.

Their looks of anticipation were met with only silence at first. It took Harry a while before he actually spoke. "I don't want them out in the school. That is too dangerous, and I won't risk it. They already know too much, though. They shouldn't even know my name." His voice shook only slightly as he said this. "Lock them away. Don't let them wander, but erase their memories anyway," he told Dumbledore with an intense look.

"Alright," the headmaster nodded solemnly. "I will make the arrangements, but remember, Harry. Time is precious." Dumbledore turned away. A house elf appeared near him when he reached the other side of the room, but none of the teenagers noticed. As soon as he had left them they began to argue animatedly.

"Lock us away?" James shouted at Harry. "What? I didn't get you want you wanted for Christmas last year, and now you get a chance to get at me without getting punished? Is that what this is? You have power over dear old dad, and you are going to use it, huh? Why would Dumbledore turn the decision over to you anyway?"

Ron started toward him. "Don't talk about things that you don't understand, you stupid arrogant little..." Harry cut Ron off there with a hand on his chest.

"He doesn't understand, and I don't want him to. Okay?" Harry said, completely ignoring everyone in the room except Ron.

Ron shakes his head slightly. "No, it's not okay, Harry, but yes I'll play by your rules," he replied, turning to stand behind Harry and shooting a glare at James.

"Mr. Weasley, may I have a word?" the forgotten adult across room called out. Glaring as he turned, Ron made his way to Dumbledore.

"You are actually going to lock us in a room for an indeterminate, but apparently long, amount of time?" Remus asked with a nervous edge to his voice.

"Its not like we're going to lock you in a closet, and the moon isn't full for about a week and a half yet. We'll be able to make accommodations if this takes longer than that," Harry said, trying to calm down the frightened boy. Talking to Remus didn't feel as odd as talking to the others to Harry.

"Moon?" Lily asked as Remus blushed. Professor Dumbledore and Ron approached the group, drawing everyone's attention.

"Mr. Weasley will take you all to your rooms now. Harry, if you would please stay a moment?" Dumbledore said. The four tired time travelers followed the redhead down the spiraling stairs and out into the hall.

"I agree with your assessment of the dangers that being out in the school could produce. I also think that you should take advantage of the situation, Harry. This is more than likely a once in a lifetime opportunity. I recommend not letting it pass by with out giving it serious consideration. Having said that, I will leave the rest up to you. I will contact the ministry and request another time turner now. I do have one more suggestion however. That is that you limit the number of people who know about our guests, and I shall do the same."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I don't plan on telling anyone that I don't have to. Would you please let Professor Snape also know that those are your wishes?" Harry's conversations with Professor Dumbledore weren't usually so formal, but the whole situation made him tense.

"Of course, Harry. Go and get some sleep now. You have classes in the morning if I'm not mistaken." Harry nodded and left.

Several corridors away.

Ron led the students down the hall in silence. He looked back occasionally in make sure none of them had snuck off, but everyone seemed to be playing by the rules for the moment. They approached a wall about halfway down a simple and unassuming corridor. He pressed in hard on an unusually circular stone. It sunk slightly into the wall, and he looked over at the others. "Put your hand there. Say your name and the word admittance."

Lily approached the wall and placed her hand on the sunken stone. "Lily Evans. Admittance." She stumbled a bit as the wall gave way beneath her hand. She gave a quick look to Ron who nodded her on. She vanished through the stone, and James walked up to the wall. Repeating the procedure with his own name he walked though the wall, followed by Sirius and then Remus. Ron shook his head and placed his hand on the sunken stone. "Ron Weasley. Admittance and exit."

Lily, James, and Remus were looking around the room when Ron entered. Sirius had already collapsed onto one of the couches, and looked ready for a nap. "This is the common room. It's basically a smaller version of the one in Gryffindor Tower, so I'll assume you know where everything is." It felt as though he were giving the tour to the first years again. "Your room is through there, and, Lily, your room is right there," he said pointing at the doors where the stairs would have been in the larger version of the room. "If you need anything pull the cord next to the fireplace. A house elf will be happy to get a message to Dumbledore or bring you food or something. I've got to go get some sleep because my charms class is going to be the death of me. Goodnight."

Ron turned to leave, but didn't make it four steps before Lily grabbed his sleeve. "We can't get out?" Ron shook his head, and Lily looked behind her to where James was quite loudly attempting to roll Sirius off of the couch.

"You can always just go sound proof your room," Ron offered.

"And not be able to hear them sneak up on me? No way," Lily laughed. "Are you and Harry going to be able to come and visit?"

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything about Harry," Ron offered with a sympathetic smile.

As they were talking, James walked quietly up behind Lily with something between a smile and a sneer on his face. He threw his arm over Lily's shoulder and said in an annoyingly friendly voice, "Hi."

"Hi," Ron replied with a furrowed brow.

"You want to stop hitting on my girlfriend, because that would be great?"

Lily rolled her eyes and Ron's jaw dropped. "I wasn't hitting on her. I've got a girlfriend, and she's my best friend's mother, you big freak." Ron shook his head with a disgusted look on his face. He turned and walked back through the stone wall, leaving the others alone.

James nodded his head as though he had just won a battle. "Keep it up and you won't have to worry about anyone flirting with your girlfriend anymore," Lily said as she began to walk off.

James looked up at her in shock. "Wait!" he said startled. She looked back at him. "I'm Harry's father," he said slowly. Lily nodded, unsure of where this was going. "You're Harry's mother?" She nodded again, getting a bit impatient. "So that means..."

"Argh! We are stuck twenty years in the future and all you can think about is the fact that you will at one point loose you virginity? Why am I dating you?" she screamed as she stormed into her room.

James slid down the wall and sat staring at his shoes. He looked up as two shadows moved to stand over him. "Lily and I are going to have a baby."

"Probably not soon, Prongs, but yeah," Sirius smirked.

"Lily and I have a future together. We're going to get married. We're going to have a son. I'm going to be a father." James shook his head and resumed staring at his shoes. It hadn't hit him before, but the thought of such a future was almost too much for such a child to consider.

Meanwhile in Gryffindor Tower.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked as he fell onto the couch next to Harry.

"Nope," Harry replied, picking at a loose thread at the hem of his sleeve.

"Your dad and I don't get along real great," Ron offered.

"Nope," Harry agreed, still not moving his eyes from the string.

"Madam Hooch is dance naked on the table in the corner," Ron tried.

"Happens," Harry replied, before lifting his head to give a slight grin to his friend. "It's been a long night, Ron."

"It'll be an even longer day if we don't get some sleep," Ron said as he rose from the couch. He offered a hand to Harry, who accepted and pulled himself up.

"Sorry I took you away from that great dream earlier," Harry smirked.

"That's alright," Ron returned the expression. "I'll get Hermione to reenact it later."

They had reached the bottom of the staircase when a familiar voice called out to them. "Good you two are awake. I had planned on studying by myself this morning, but since you are up you can join me," Hermione said as she descended from the girls dorms.

Harry and Ron laughed hollowly as they continued on to their beds, desperate to get in the two hours and a half hours that they had left until they were late.

Review some more!


	3. Breaking Up

She allowed them to sleep until breakfast started, but couldn't let it go on any longer than that. Their dorm mates were already gone, so Hermione took the liberty of going up to wake them. It proved to be a more difficult task than imagined. After yelling and shaking them, she tore the covers off of each and was surprised to find Harry in still his clothes and Ron in his dressing gown. What could have tired them out like this? She hoped that nothing bad had happened.

Using tactics that Ron had deemed unfair in order to get her way, she leaned over his bed and kissed him hard. Not over a second later Ron was glaring at her. "Mean," he yawned.

"But effective," Hermione countered. "You two are going to end up being late. Now get him out of bed before I am forced to wake him the exact same way."

She got a reply of a sleepy, "Mean," once again, but he got out of bed anyway. He stumbled over to his blissfully unconscious friend and shoved him to the floor.

A startled and semiconscious Harry sat up immediately upon contact with the ground. "Where'd it go?" he asked frantically.

"She's mean," Ron slurred curling up in Harry's bed, as it was closer.

"You two are going to be very late, you do know that, right?" Hermione asked as she tried her hardest not to laugh at he friends.

"Oh okay. Thanks, Hermione," Harry said. He crawled back into his bed, laying on the opposite edge as Ron. Hermione sighed, and climbed on the bed to lay in the middle.

"Why are you two this exhausted? Why were you up when I got up this morning?" she asked. Ron draped his arm around her middle, but Harry stayed on the edge of the bed with one arm dangling to the floor.

"It's all Harry's fault," Ron half mumbled.

"My fault?" Harry returned, not bothering to lift his head to respond. "It's not like I asked them to come."

"True," Ron replied, actually spending the energy to move his face away from the pillow so that he could be heard. "They are your parents though. You should be responsible for them." Harry didn't take offense, but did grab the pillow from beneath his own head to reach across Hermione and hit Ron.

Neville chose this exact moment to come back to the dorm for his charms essay. He stared wide-eyed at the frozen, and rather snugly looking, trio for a moment before walking to his trunk, grabbing the parchment, and walking back out of the room without saying a word.

Ron buried his head in Hermione's frizzy mane as he began to snicker. Harry shared a look with Hermione before they both joined in. They calmed down slightly, and Hermione sat up. She looked back at Harry over her shoulder and asked, "Parents?" with a furrowed brow.

Harry sat up cross-legged. "You hungry, mate?" he asked the still horizontal Ron.

"I'll live. Explain away," Ron reluctantly replied as he also joined the vertical world once again.

Harry gave a long-suffering sigh and began the tale of last night's adventures.

"That's terrible," Hermione said when he had finished the parts that he knew. "Something could have gone terribly wrong in trying that. Time turners aren't meant to be used to travel such long periods of time," she rambled, going into her know-it-all personality before softening and giving Harry a questioning look. "Are you alright about all of this?"

He gave her a small smile. He really did have good friends. "I'll be fine."

After a short knock at the door, a small redheaded girl poked her head in the room. "Anybody naked?" Ginny asked.

"Sadly no," replied Ron, earning him strange looks from the others on the bed. He shrugged in response.

"You can come in, Gin," Harry said, holding his open hand toward the door.

Ginny walked over to them, grabbing Harry's hand as she leaned against the bedpost. Ron made it a point to look anywhere but at there laced fingers.

Ginny and Harry had started seeing each other around the middle of summer. Their relationship could really be blamed on Ron and Hermione's. They had been left to entertain themselves quite frequently while the other two had sought a little privacy.

While Ron tried his best not to make a big deal out of it, he wasn't entirely comfortable about his little sister dating at all. Let alone dating his best friend.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second?" she asked, glancing at her brother and Hermione out of the corner of her eye.

"Sure," he said looking at his friends.

"Let's go get some breakfast," Ron offered.

"We'll grab a piece of toast for you, Harry," Hermione said as they left. "Poor Harry," she said as she walked down the stairs in front of Ron.

"I know," he replied. "And you don't know the half of it."

"I don't?"

"Nope," he said through clenched teeth. She gave him an imploring look, and he continued. "I had to walk the four of them to their room. It seems that Harry may get his looks from his dad, but his personality is entirely his mom."

"Meaning?" Hermione asked.

"We like Harry's personality. James Potter's is the exact opposite. Meaning..."

"We don't like James Potter?" she guessed. She was starting to get a little confused. "Why not?"

"He's a jerk Hermione. I wouldn't say it if it weren't true. You know how much I hate to agree with Snape on anything, but the guy accused me of hitting on his girlfriend. He told off Harry and Dumbledore both. Then when he found out that Dumbledore was just going to send him home, not punish him even though he broke the law, just not let him have his way gallivanting about in time, he broke the time turner and caused a lot of people a lot of problems."

"Did you just say gallivanting?" she laughed.

"Is that what you got out of that? I'm telling you that I hate our best friend's father, and you make fun of me for my word choice," he laughed back.

"Don't worry about it," she put her arm around his waste and her head on his shoulder. "It will all work out fine."

"Aren't you the little optimist this morning?" he asked.

"Too tired to worry," she replied. "My dreams weren't very restful."

"Was I there?" he smirked.

"Maybe..." she giggled.

"I dreamt about you too," he said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. Well, it was either you or the Cannons. All I remember is it was a really good dream." She shoved him lightly through the door to the great hall, and continued in herself.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Gryffindor tower.

"We need to talk," Ginny started with a sad smile once Ron had shut the door behind him.

"Ah... The dreaded phrase," he smirked. She gave him a serious look, and he frowned. "I'm all ears."

She took a slow deep breath and plunged in. "I think that we should break up," she said. Tears welled up in her eyes and began to run down her cheeks.

"Hey," Harry said in a soft voice as he gently brushed the tears from her face with the pad of his thumb, "you're breaking up with me. Shouldn't I be the one crying?"

"I like you, Harry! I really do! But..." she trailed off.

"Michael wants you back?" he picked up where she had left off. She nodded slightly before a fresh wave of sobs broke through. Michael Corner was a Ravenclaw boy in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He and Ginny had dated, but she ended it last year. Over the summer, before they had started dating, Ginny had told Harry that she thought that she had been in love with him, but that it was too late now. Harry had sagely told her that it is never too late.

"This is so stupid! I'm being such a girl! I'm not this fickle!" she shouted.

He pulled her to him, hugging her and rubbing her back soothingly. "You're not being fickle. You know what you want. You just had to wait on him to figure out what he wanted."

"But what about you?" she sniffed.

"What about me?" he asked. He pulled back from their hug, smiling at her concern.

"What about us?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure, but I think you just broke up with me, Gin."

She laughed a little at his sympathetic tone. "Are you still my friend?" she asked as though her entire world hinged upon his answer.

"Wild rampaging hippogriffs couldn't keep us apart." She still looked unsure after his confession. "Always, Ginny. I'm always your friend."

She gave him a watery smile. "We're going to be late, and I have potions," she said as she gave him one last long hug.

"Come on. We'd better hurry then," he replied, leading her off of the bed by the hand. He reached the door before looking down at their intertwined fingers. He looked her in the eyes and purposefully unlaced their hands. He held open the door for her, and they walked to their classes in silence.


	4. The Reaction We've All Been Waiting For

Thanks again to Luci for looking over this chapter for me.

"Your late Mr. Potter," the tiny man on the table at the front of the room said.

"Sorry, Professor," Harry replied as he walked to his seat next to Hermione. Professor Flitwick finished his short lecture and allowed them to begin their practice.

"You were late," Hermione said in a disapproving tone as she perfectly charmed the baby chick on her desk invisible and back again.

"I know," Harry replied as he scooped up his chick who had decided it wanted to see what it was like to fly by taking a nose dive off of the desk.

"You and Gin have fun?" she inquired. A sleep deprived Ron sent her a glare at which she smiled.

"No," he started and considered leaving it at that, but they were going to find out soon enough. He petted the tiny bird in his hand, completely ignoring the assignment. "We broke up," he finished simply.

In a matter of seconds Ron's wand was no longer aimed at the chick, but at his best friend's forehead. "What did you do?" he hissed.

"Nothing. Will you put your wand down, you big nutter?" Harry asked, looking at Ron and wondering when the boy had lost his mind.

"Nothing? You think breaking my little sister's heart is nothing? How dare you!" Ron's voice carried across the room and the majority of the class had stopped working to listen in. Professor Flitwick was making his way to their table, asking Ron to put down his wand along the way.

Harry rose from his seat and grabbed his bag. "She dumped me, Ron. Thanks for being so discrete about it. I really do appreciate that." He walked out of the classroom and into the hall. He walked hard and fast, not wanting to be followed.

Once outside, Harry looked down at his hands. One was still white-knuckled around his wand, but in the other a bright yellow ball of fluff with a beak chirped up at him. He sat down against the stone wall of the castle and placed the chick on the ground. It looked up and him and chirped and flapped its wings. He laughed slightly at it as continued in its odd off-rhythm little dance.

"Aww... Isn't that cute?" a voice from the stairs unenthusiastically snarled.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked too tired for a fight. His day was getting worse by the minute.

"Sorry," Malfoy replied. "Didn't know you had reserved the sulking spot for the day." He sat down on the castle steps and leaned his head back to take in the graying sky.

"Well, I did. So kindly wait your turn," Harry replied, continuing to watch his chick.

"What are you sulking about, Potter?"

"Hangnail," Harry answered. It really wasn't any of Malfoy's business what was the matter with him.

"Oh, well then I win." Harry looked over at him. Something was very wrong here. Malfoy wasn't insulting him. He was almost friendly. Harry shuddered at the thought. "Blister," he said as he held up an unblemished finger for effect.

"How would you get a blister? It's not like you ever do any work," Harry tried to keep the grin off of his face as he said it. He wasn't supposed to enjoy talking to Malfoy.

"Terrible Quidditch injury," Malfoy replied. It was rare to hear true mirth in his voice, but Harry could swear it was there.

"McGonagall is seriously ready to rip off your head, love," a female voice said from the doors behind them. "We should get going before she finds us."

Malfoy stood and dusted off his robes. Harry turn to find Pansy Parkinson giving him an odd look before turning to her house mate with a questioning stare. He ushered her into the entrance hall, and Harry turned back to stare up at the sky.

Several hours later Harry awoke with a sharp pain in the side of his neck. Water hit his face with a slow and annoying drip. It was raining, not hard, but still raining. From the looks of it though it was bound to get bad soon.

"Morning, sleepy head," a familiar voice said from a spot somewhere off to his right. Harry sat up and rubbed at his neck, pushing his glasses up his nose to look over at Ginny.

"Time is it?" Harry mumbled.

"Dinner is just starting," she supplied as she moved to sit behind him. He looked over his shoulder at her and winced slightly at the pull on his neck. She gently pushed on his chin to make him face forward, and began kneading his neck.

His eyes drifted closed. He loved her hands. They were so small and so soft. He loved the way they felt against his skin. He opened his eyes and turned to look back at her.

"Not the best idea, Gin," he said solemnly, recalling the events of the morning.

"Your still my friend, Harry. It's not like this isn't allowed anymore. We're not doing anything wrong," she said exasperated.

"It kind of isn't allowed. If Michael finds us, do you think he's going to be happy about it? Just lay off for a while. You broke up with me not ten hours ago. Maybe later we can go on like nothing ever happened, but I think that this is just a little much right now," Harry explained.

"Great," Ginny replied with tears in her eyes. "That's just great, Harry. Weren't you the one that said just this morning that you and I would always be friends?"

"And we will be, but for at least couple of days we need to not do this," Harry tried to calm the little redhead down, but she wouldn't let him. She was upset with herself for breaking up with him, and had to have someone to be angry with.

"Fine. That's fine. I'll just talk to you later then, okay?" she huffed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She raised herself up from the ground and walking quickly back into the castle.

Harry sigh and stood. "It just keeps getting better and better," he mumbled picking up his bag. He put his hands in the pockets of his robes and let out a small smile at what his right had encountered. Apparently the little chick did like to sleep in the rain.

"She dumped you, huh?" Ron asked from his spot leaning against the doors to the castle. Harry rolled his eyes. Every now and then Ron became this crazy snobbish holier-than-thou version of his friend, and it drove Harry nuts. "Is that why your out here having a great time, and I just saw her run by crying from this direction?"

"Yes, Ron, it is," he said patiently. He walked past Ron and into the castle. The smell of food called to Harry from the great hall. He hadn't eaten all day. He walked in, fully expecting to continue the argument all through dinner, but Ron never came in.

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, Harry began filling his plate. He sat at the end of the table near Dean Thomas who was quite absorbed in his potion's book, and so he ate alone. Hermione was nowhere to be found either. He hoped she was with Ron though. Maybe she could talk some sense into him.

Harry felt eyes on him. He couldn't recall doing anything heroic enough to get him stares lately, so he looked up. Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy were staring at him from across the room. Draco looked over and said something to his friend and went back to eating, but Pansy kept on. This was definitely not a normal day.

In a room locked off from the rest of the school.

"I'm bored," Lily complained. They had spent all day taking turns playing chess and exploding snap, two game that are entertaining enough, but a whole day of them was a little redundant. The highlight of her day had been asking the house elf that brought lunch if he could find some clothes for her so that she didn't have to spend the whole day in her night dress. She loved blue jeans.

She was laying on the couch with her feet over the back and her hair dragging the ground. James was taking up the rest of the couch, using her stomach as a pillow. They had made up before breakfast that morning. It seemed that no matter what he did, Lily always forgave him. She still hadn't figured out why.

Remus was curled up into a tiny ball in the armchair next to the fire, and a big black dog was laying on the hearth rug snoozing. They had explained Harry's moon comment to Lily earlier too. She took it quite well. James and Sirius had gotten a small lecture about doing such dangerous magic unsupervised and for not being registered, while Remus had gotten a big hug.

"Everyone's bored, Lil. What do you want us to do about it?" James asked.

"I don't know. Do a little dance for me or something. I need entertainment," she said.

"I don't feel like dancing. You dance. That should entertain everyone," James offered, for which she flicked his ear. He rubbed his ear and glared at her.

"They look lively," a voice said from the direction of the stonewall entrance. It wasn't a voice that the recognized, but the next one was.

"They've been locked in a room all day with nothing to do. Wouldn't you be?" Ron countered. James sat up and looked over to the still snoozing dog by the fire. He ran through every lie they had ever come up with in regards to their animagus forms. None of them fit.

"Hey," he said nervously, and the girl with Ron followed his nervous gaze.

"We know he's a dog. We've seen him like that before," she said comfortingly.

"Right," James sighed. "You're friends with my son. Of course you would know."

"Hermione, this is James," James smiled, "Lily," Lily waved happily from her still inverted position, "Remus," the boy in the chair opened one eye and waved lazily, "and, of course, Sirius," the dog snored on, "Everybody, this is my girlfriend, another of Harry's friends, Hermione," Ron finished.

"Nice to meet you," Lily said, righting herself at last. She stood and walked over to them, shaking Hermione's hand.

"We thought that we would come down and eat dinner with you guys, if you don't mind the company," Ron offered.

"And Harry?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Umm..." Ron looked anywhere but at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It will take Harry a while to get used to this. Knowing that your parent's were once teenagers is one thing, but actually seeing it has got to be odd. He and Ron got into a bit of an argument, so Ron wanted to be the one place Harry was sure to not be, because he's a big baby," she said, staring intently at Ron towards the end of her rant.

"So... food, huh?" James said, successfully attempting to break up the glares.

Review! Please?


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